Marion County (Fla.) Hospital District's investment portfolio dropped $10.3 million in value in October after major marketwide losses, according to Ocala.com.
The district's portfolio was worth $252.8 million at the end of September and $242.4 million at the end of October. SunTrust, Berman Capital and Massey Quick each handle one-third of the portfolio, and their performance is compared to an aggregate benchmark based on the performance of several indexes, including the S&P 500 and Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index.
The benchmark lost $8.6 million in October, almost $1.7 million less than the portfolio's management lost.
"You're paying them to buy the higher performance investments. The big question we have to ask, not only with these guys but with all of them, is if you’re not beating the benchmarks, why not just buy the benchmarks?" said Rich Bianculli, chairman of the district’s board of trustees. "Let’s just buy the S&P 500 and go to bed, and that’s that. That’s getting to be a more and more legitimate question."
While the portfolio faced a 4.09 percent loss in October, it is down only .46 percent 2018 so far, a loss of $1.4 million.